RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Known for its coastlines, mountains and the state that was “first in flight,” North Carolina has also developed a more dubious reputation recently: as a regional destination for adults who want to marry children.
A Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Change North Carolina s Antiquated Child Marriage Law
The couple entered Drew Reisingerâs office in Asheville after a three-hour trip across two state lines.
He was 49, and she had just turned 17. Theyâd traveled to North Carolina from Kentucky for the stateâs more permissible marriage laws, they said.Â
It was 2019, one year after the state of Kentucky had passed a law banning marriage with someone under 18 without a court order. The couple wanted Reisinger, the Buncombe County register of deeds, to issue a license for their marriage in the Tar Heel state instead.
Reisinger took the girl aside to ask her questions privatelyâsheâd celebrated her 17th birthday less than a month before, still lived with her mother, who homeschooled her, and had no work experience. She still said she wanted to marry this man, who was her boyfriend. Reisinger quickly Googled Kentuckyâs lawsâas of 2018, the manâs relationship with
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As the country watches the COVID death toll cross the half million mark, a Western North Carolina official has been taking inventory of the local impact. As BPR’s Helen Chickering reports, he ended up with a snapshot for the entire state.
“We were trying to close out our 2020 numbers and we came across this statistic that was pretty jaw-dropping,” says Buncombe County Register of Deeds, Drew Reisinger. “For the first time in recorded history in Buncombe County, we had more deaths than births.”
Reisinger says in 2020 Buncombe County recorded 4,098 deaths and 4,050 births. “So, it took a pretty substantial event to create that.”